Among OECD member nations, South Koreans paid top dollar for mobile handsets in the years 2011-2014.
Mobile handsets sold in S. Korea were more expensive than anywhere else with the average selling price (ASP) of a basic cell phone at USD 229 (or 270,000 won) and that of a high-end mobile phone at USD 546 (or 640,000 won), according to a report released on August 30 by Rep. Choi Won-sik of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), who is on the Science, ICT, Future Planning, Broadcasting % Communications Committee.
S. Korea came out on top, though the prices of basic cell phones and high-end phones fell 7 percent and 33 percent, respectively, over the past 3 years.
Mobile phones, both basic and high-end, were the priciest in Japan in 2011. However, in the following three years, the Japanese market cut basic cell phone prices by 33 percent and pegged a rise in high-end phone prices at 14 percent, thereby yielding the disgraceful No.1 position to its neighbor.
In Japan, the ASP of a basic cell phone was roughly 240,000 won (second highest) and that of a high-end phone about 610,000 won (12th highest). Though the US also ranked first in the ASP of a high-end phone (650,000 won), its ASP of a basic cell phone was 120,000 won, half that of S. Korea’s.
When 29 OCED member states’ per capita income was taken into account, mobile phones were exorbitantly expensive in S. Korea.
As a matter of fact, among 13 OECD member nations with purchasing-power-parity (PPP)-based GDP per capita at USD 35,277 or below, five ranked between 10th and 19th and six between 20th and 29th in the ASP of a basic cell phone. Poland was an exception, which finished 6th.
In the ASP of a high-end phone, four countries were placed between 10th and 19th and seven between 20th and 29th, except S. Korea and Italy (5th place).
“Various measures should be urgently put in place, such as lowing factory gate prices, expanding the Mobile Phone Self-Sufficiency System and revitalizing the distribution of second-hand phones and low to mid-range phones,” said Rep. Choi.
